


Taking that Trip

by Peruvian Gypsy (Cat_Moon)



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Sentinel/Guide Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-27 21:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20767517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_Moon/pseuds/Peruvian%20Gypsy
Summary: Something happens that radically changes Jim and Blair's understanding of what it means to be a Guide. Time to fish or cut bait, as they say...  The water's nice.





	Taking that Trip

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 'Transformation' fill on my Bingo card for [](https://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](https://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org/)**trope_bingo**  
Contains references to the episodes, "Sentinel Too" and "Warriors"

**Taking That Trip**

_“Einstein said the greatest experiences we can have are the ones with the mysterious.”_

\--Blair Sandburg

Jim ran as fast as he could, dodging past trees and leaping over rocks. He could hear Blair behind him, following, but couldn't spare much attention for his Guide. His focus was on following the perp.

Beau Parker was a vicious serial killer who'd already murdered three men in Cascade. They'd gotten a tip that he was hold up in Mt. Rainier Park, and it had been legit, because with his Guide's help, Jim had used his senses to track Parker to his campsite. Unfortunately, the killer had heard them coming when Blair couldn't stifle a sneeze, and Jim's hand over his mouth hadn't been enough to muffle it. Now they were racing pell mell through the woods. One, running for his freedom, the other running with determination that his quarry wouldn't get away to harm again.

From a half a mile back, Jim heard Blair sneeze again, and it was enough to distract him for a moment. His partner had been coming down with something since earlier that morning. He should have insisted Blair stay in bed, stay home at the very least. Running around through the cold, rainy forest wasn't helping.

Jim shook his head and re-focused on tracking Parker. He skidded to a stop when he realized he could no longer hear the killer. The sound of running was gone. Parker must have stopped. Jim cast out his hearing, searching for heavy breathing or any other clue to the man's whereabouts.

He located it in the split second before a ton of bricks dropped onto him from above. Parker leaped from the tree he'd climbed, knocking them both to the ground. Jim was strong and in great health, but a few seconds of surprise and the knife at the ready was enough of an advantage. The blade went for Jim's throat, intending to make quick work of slitting it open.

Just as Parker was bringing the knife down, a loud growl echoed through the forest. It was enough for both men to pause. Jim used the diversion to shove Beau aside and jump to his feet, going into a fighter's stance.

Before either of them could react further, a gray blur sailed through the air, hitting Parker squarely in the back and sending him to the ground. Jim watched, stunned, as the huge wolf went for the man's jugular. Screaming and blood followed, as Parker's throat was efficiently ripped out.

“What the hell...”

Parker stopped screaming and was still. The forest was silent. The wolf lifted its head and looked at Jim. He tensed, wondering if the animal was going to attack him next, but something told him he had nothing to fear. Indeed, their eyes met for a moment, then the wolf turned and ran off.

Blue eyes._ Very familiar blue eyes..._

Jim stood there in a daze, trying to process everything that had just happened. Trying _not_ to think about what it meant. He checked Parker to make sure he was dead, then headed back out the way he'd come.

Blair was sitting on the ground leaning against a tree when Jim found him. He could almost convince himself he was imaging things...but he'd recognized the eyes looking into his.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” Blair was muttering to himself. When he saw Jim he jumped up. “Jim, man, you are okay?” That guy was going to--”

He cut off abruptly.

Jim decided now that the danger was past, it would be a good idea to freak out. He lunged forward, grabbing Blair by the shoulders. “What the hell happened? What did you do?!”

Blair stared at him, clearly shaken and in shock himself. “I don't know.”

Jim let him go, backing up several steps. “I saw it! You...”

“Oh my god...”

Jim leaned against a tree, letting it support his weight. Memories flooded him against his will. How he'd chased the wolf and killed it... then it morphed into Blair...but that was just a dream.

Harder to dismiss the other memories. Of pulling his Guide out of the fountain, not finding a pulse. Doing CPR. Everyone had given up, but he couldn't, failure was not an option. He'd grabbed Blair's face, and somehow...somehow, the wolf and panther had merged. And Blair had come back to him.

That was just a vision though. _This_...

“Do you remember when you died?” he finally asked.

Blair nodded. “You brought me back. Our spirit animals...”

“That wasn't real!” Jim yelled. “_This_...”

“He would have slit your throat,” Blair told him quietly.

Jim felt a bit of hysteria bubbling at the edges. “You just turned into a wolf, Sandburg! Aren't you just a little, I don't know, _freaked out_ about it?!”

“Hell, yeah!” Blair yelled back. “But I'd be a lot more freaked out if you were dead,” he finished.

“So this is something you do now? Turn into a wolf?”

“I don't know, man!”

“Okay,” Jim said, forcefully gathering the threads of his control. “Okay. We need to get out of here. Call it in. We found his campsite and went looking, found him there like that, the obvious victim of an animal attack.”

Blair stared at him as if uncomprehending, clearly still in shock. Jim grabbed his sleeve and dragged him along, heading out of the forest.

XXX

If there was one thing Jim Ellison was good at, it was avoidance, with a liberal helping of denial thrown in. Blair was clearly willing to go along with it, because they'd barely spoken as they made their way out of the forest, given a confused Simon their version of events. It was late when they finally arrived home, and, although ashamed of taking the coward's way out, Jim had gone immediately to bed.

Jim tossed and turned for an hour before finally giving into the inevitable and leaving his bed. He made his way downstairs hesitantly. He kept telling himself – and Blair – that he wasn't ready... but the truth clearly wasn't going to wait.

Blair was sitting on the floor by the coffee table, several candles flickering in the darkness, deep in meditation. Jim sat down quietly on the couch, and kept watch.

Ten minutes later, Blair came out of it. He stretched the kinks out, and scooted back against the sofa cushions, clearing his throat and taking a drink from the bottle of water next to him. Jim expected the silence that followed to be as awkward as it had been earlier, but was surprised to discover that it felt comfortable instead.

“Still not ready to take that trip with me, Jim?” Blair finally asked.

“Do I have a choice?”

“Do you _want_ one?” Blair queried, with an unusual intensity to his voice. He continued before Jim could formulate a response. “I've spent the last hour thinking about this, Jim, and I... Incacha passed the way of the Shaman to me, but I have no clue what I'm doing! He died and I gotta tell ya, man, I'm flying by the seat of my pants here.”

“You've been doing great...”

“No, I haven't. I screwed up, and almost ended up dead,” he admitted bluntly. “This is serious, Jim! I just turned into a wolf!” he said, with a panicked edge to his voice. “What if it happens again?”

“How the hell do I know?!”

“Exactly! I may be able to figure out tests for your senses, and help you learn to dial it down, but this...”

“So what are we gonna do?” Jim demanded. The silence the met his question was disturbing, through he wasn't sure why until his partner spoke again.

“I have to leave.”

Jim stiffened in alarm. “What do you mean, leave?”

“I have to figure out what's happening to me, and get control of it. Like I helped you do, with your senses. I need to go stay with the Chopec for awhile.”

“Incacha's dead,” Jim said flatly. The reminder of the loss was still painful. Thinking that Blair might have joined him on the other side... was unbearable.

“He wouldn't have left the tribe without a Shaman, he'd have trained someone to take his place before he came here.”

Sandburg, Blair...”

“You know there's no other way,” Blair insisted, a hint of tears in his voice.

Everything fell in and turned blue, and all at once Jim was standing before a cliff. Below him, a raging torrent of water rushed by. He'd been there before, and he knew what he had to do.

_C'mon in, the water's nice..._

To have the courage to stand up and be the Sentinel, the man that Incacha expected him to be. The man Blair _needed_ him to be. Jim leaped.

And opened his eyes to see Blair giving him a concerned look. “I'm ready,” he told his Guide.

Blair's eyes widened at the words. “Are you sure?”

Jim leaned forward. “I already made that choice, Chief. To be the Sentinel. And you're my Guide.” He held his hand out, and Blair grasped it. “When do we leave?”

He had no idea what the future was going to bring, but it would be an adventure. Together.

**The end**

9/24/19


End file.
